Re: Olds Vista Cruiser 455 Road Test
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 6:39 pm
Be sure to check out the specs. http://media.caranddriver.com/files/old ... -specs.pdf
It has nearly 50/50 weight balance!
They had better data back in 68....take a look.
By the way...all the light weight and cramped interior is explainable by something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile ... .80.931972
It's actually an A-body, not a B-body. It's basically an Olds Cutlass wagon. Huh. That explains why the Fury was much larger. A-body was intermediate, not full size. It also makes it less surprising that this had a handling package. I recall a 1970 Chevelle article and they said it handled well (stock).
The Delta 88 would have been the Olds B-body sedan of the time. There was no wagon. In fact, GM had a strange hiatus of Olds B-body wagons from 1965 through 1970. In 1971, the Custom Cruiser entered the scene. As far as the other GM divisions:
Buick missing from 1965 to 1969.
For Pontiac, there was continuous production of both a Bonneville Safari AND Catalina Safari.
Chevy had continuous production as Impala, Caprice and Kingswood Estate (top of the line) wagons through that time.
And those 71-76 B-bodies were huge. From Wiki:
And this is really cool:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll-OsKw0mDQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBdT-tg6B6k
A Buick which needs lube (naturally this would be Ed's): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg0fShIQIpQ
Two immaculate 1975 Chevys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-J9xEfZ7uM
It has nearly 50/50 weight balance!
They had better data back in 68....take a look.
By the way...all the light weight and cramped interior is explainable by something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile ... .80.931972
It's actually an A-body, not a B-body. It's basically an Olds Cutlass wagon. Huh. That explains why the Fury was much larger. A-body was intermediate, not full size. It also makes it less surprising that this had a handling package. I recall a 1970 Chevelle article and they said it handled well (stock).
The Delta 88 would have been the Olds B-body sedan of the time. There was no wagon. In fact, GM had a strange hiatus of Olds B-body wagons from 1965 through 1970. In 1971, the Custom Cruiser entered the scene. As far as the other GM divisions:
Buick missing from 1965 to 1969.
For Pontiac, there was continuous production of both a Bonneville Safari AND Catalina Safari.
Chevy had continuous production as Impala, Caprice and Kingswood Estate (top of the line) wagons through that time.
And those 71-76 B-bodies were huge. From Wiki:
Remember also that the 71-76 B-body wagons had a longer wheelbase (at 125") than the sedans (which were the same, in fact, as the downsized 77-96 D-body, at 121.5"). They were very large vehicles. The Cadillacs of that era were even larger.The 1971-76 GM full-size bodies, at 64.3" front shoulder room and 63.4" rear shoulder room set a record for interior width that would not be matched by any car until the full-size GM rear-wheel drive models of the early to mid-1990s
And this is really cool:
Videos in action:The Grand Safari wagons also featured a new 'Clamshell' tailgate design where the rear power-operated glass slid up into the roof as the tailgate (manually or with power assist), slid into a recess under the cargo floor. The power tailgate, the first in station wagon history, ultimately supplanted the manual tailgate, which required marked effort to lift from storage. It was operated by switches on the instrument panel or a key switch on the rear quarter panel. The Clamshell system, heavy and complex, made it easier to load and unload the extremely long wagons in tight spaces. But it remained un-adopted by any other manufacturer, and would be eliminated when GM reduced the length of their wagons by about a foot in 1977, and the overriding concern became increased fuel economy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll-OsKw0mDQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBdT-tg6B6k
A Buick which needs lube (naturally this would be Ed's): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg0fShIQIpQ
Two immaculate 1975 Chevys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-J9xEfZ7uM